A Ranger's Beginning
by ArinSteele
Summary: Follow Terence Carter, an 18-year-old Pokemon Ranger, as he travels Hoenn determined to be the world's greatest Pokemon Ranger. Along the way, he meets new friends and Pokemon while he improves his skill as a Ranger. But when mysterious devices of unknown origin begin to appear and cause havoc throughout the region, Carter and his team must get to the bottom of this mystery.
1. Chapter 1 - A Forest Encounter

I wake to the sound of my alarm going off. I reach for the clock and miss it, knocking it off the beside table.

I groan and get out of bed to go pick it up. I click the snooze button, 6:45am it reads. I can see the sunlight from outside peeking through the curtains.

"Better get going," I mumble to myself as I walk to the window, yawning.

"Up and at 'em," I throw the shades open and the morning sun fills the room, illuminating the few belongings I have as well as a sleeping Torchic.

"C'mon buddy," I pat the Torchic on the head, "Gotta wake up."

The Torchic blinks awake and chirps. Torchic's been my partner ever since I started at Ranger School back in Almia. I found him in the forest one day when we had a mock-patrol and he's stuck with me ever since. I haven't done much battle with him, so he may still be a bit on the squishy side.

But now I've moved on from Almia. I'm back in my home region of Hoenn, determined to become the greatest Pokemon Ranger in the world. What better way to do that then to challenge the Hoenn League and grow stronger alongside my Pokemon.

I minimize Torchic's pokeball and clip it to my belt, five slots remain empty. I haven't had the chance to expand my team since I've been putting so much time towards my schooling. Hopefully I'll be able to meet more Pokemon on my travels through Hoenn.

Torchic hops up and down, chirping to get my attention.

"Yes, yes," I pull out some Pokemon food from my bag, "here's your breakfast."

Torchic chirps happily as he munches down on the kibble-like food. I finish cleaning up the room I had rented for the night, folding up my clothes and packing away any belongings. I pick up my Styler from the bedside table and secure it around my forearm. I raise it to enable it, checking the capture disc for any damage. I just had this upgraded as a gift from my friends back at the Vientown Ranger Base.

"You done?" I ask my partner as I finish packing the last of my stuff, he hops around and pushes the empty bowl towards me. I smile and pack the bowl away. "Alright, time to head out."

I step out of the room, making sure to lock the door behind me. Torchic runs along beside my feet as I walk through the hall of the Pokecenter.

"Good morning, Nurse Joy," I say, "I'm here to return this." I place the room key on the counter.

"Good morning!" Nurse Joy says, "I hope you enjoyed your stay! We hope to serve you again!"

We wave goodbye and walk out the sliding doors and into Petalburg City. My hometown and the city I arrived in when I flew back from Almia after graduating from Ranger School. My first order of business is to travel to Littleroot Town, where I'll hopefully meet with Professor Birch, who's a famed professor studying Pokemon Habitats.

 _But first, breakfast._

* * *

I step out of the Pokemart with a breakfast sandwich in my hand and my bag restocked with any items I might need; pokeballs, potions, various medicines. Torchic and I make our way to the edge of the city, heading onto Route 102, the forest between Petalburg City and Oldale Town.

I fumble around with the empty pokeballs I keep clipped to my belt. As a Ranger, we didn't catch many Pokemon. We used our Capture Discs to get the assistance of wild Pokemon, allowing them to leave once our task was complete.

I take a bite out of my sandwich, _I wonder how I'll balance out my team._

We enter the forest and take in the scenery around us. Seedot sit on the branches of the trees, alongside a few Silcoon and Cascoon. Wurmple and Zigzagoon frolic around in the tall grass just to the side of the path.

Everything is peaceful in the forest on this beautiful morning.

Then I hear a scream.

My mind immediately switches to all the training we did back at Ranger School and I activate my Styler. Torchic hops onto my shoulder and I run towards the scream.

I hop down a small ledge to a part of the forest which is a bit lower than the rest.

I duck around a few trees as I run off the beaten path and find a small pack of Poochyena surrounding a girl who's fallen and now backing off slowly. She has her hair tied back into a ponytail.

"Go, Capture Disc!" I shout as the disc ejects from my styler as I swing it around. It circles a few nearby Wurmple and I bring their attention to the pack of wolf Pokemon.

"Lend me your power," I say and focus on the pack of Poochyena, "String Shot!"

A silky projectile flies past me and ensnares one of the wolf Pokemon, the other two of which get angry and direct their attention towards me.

One lunges my way when I throw my capture disc around it. It circles the angry Pokemon a few times before the Poochyena calms down. The other, still angry continues its attack.

"Torchic, Ember!" The chick Pokemon jumps off my shoulder and fires a small flame towards the angered Poochyena.

It hits it directly, not doing too much damage. But it does scare them off. The Poochyena was able to break free of its silky trap and ran off into the bushes. The others follow suit.

I'm about to offer the girl some help getting up when I realize that Torchic's ember had lit one of the leaves of a nearby bush on fire.

"Shoot!" I look around frantically for any water Pokemon I could call upon, but to no avail. I quickly rummage through my pack and take out my water bottle which I then empty onto the burning bush, preventing the fire from spreading any further.

"Ah, dang," I look into my water bottle, "I just filled this up." I recall my Capture Disc and release the Wurmple back into the wild. I feel like I'm forgetting something.

 _Oh, duh, the girl_ , I turn to help her up only to find that she's disappeared. _What?_ She was definitely just there a few seconds ago when I chased off those Poochyena.

"Huh," I look around for any sign of where she might've gone. I find a red bandana laying on the floor, which I pick up. _Might as well return it to her if I see her again_.

"Alright, back to the main road it is," I say and head back the way I came from, Torchic hopping at my heels.

* * *

Before long, we had traveled all of Route 102 and had reached Oldale Town, the first stop before we reached Littleroot Town. Oldale Town was fairly small, no prominent buildings aside from the Pokecenter and Pokemart. The rest of the town seemed to be entirely residential, makes sense since Petalburg is so close by.

I decide to stop by the Pokecenter to drop off this bandana, the girl might come here looking to see if anyone turned it in.

I step through the sliding doors to find that same girl standing anxiously at the counter of the Pokecenter.

"It's you!" I say, walking up to the counter with bandana in hand, "You dropped this."

It takes her a second to realize what was going on and who I was. "Oh, OH!" She bows politely, taking the bandana, "I'm so sorry for causing you trouble, thank you for saving me back in the forest. I am forever in your debt."

I'm taken aback, "Uh, there's really no need, I was just doing my job."

"I'm sorry for running off back there," she politely bows once more, "You see, I found a Ralts in the forest, injured and running from those Poochyena." She steps off to the side so I could see one of the monitors behind the desk. It shows a live feed of Nurse Joy helping an injured Ralts in one of the rooms.

"I don't really have any Pokemon of my own, and I know what everyone says about not going into the tall grass," she continues, "But I couldn't just leave the Ralts there. Soon enough, I was carrying an injured Pokemon, running through the forest when I tripped…"

"And that's where I found you."

"Exactly," the girl chuckles, and then face palms, remembering something, "Oh my, where are my manners? Arin Steele, pleased to meet you!" She holds her hand out to shake.

"Terence Carter, Pokemon Ranger," I shake her hand, "And this is my partner, Torchic." Torchic appears from his hiding spot behind my legs.

"Hey there, little guy," Arin crouches down to his level and pats him on the head. Torchic coos, and hops around Arin.

"He likes you," I chuckle, "So, Arin. What were you doing in the forest to begin with?"

"Ah, I was on my way to visit my uncle," she explains, "He lives in Littleroot."

"Littleroot?" I repeat, "I'm headed there right now, I wanted to meet Professor Birch."

"No way!" She says surprised. Arin then realizes something and looks down at her feet, "by any chance, do you think I could tag along? I don't really have anyone else."

"Of course, please," I offer, "Traveling is always fun with more people."

"Really?" Arin's eye's light up, "Thank you thank you thank you! I don't know what I would've done if I got into trouble _again_."

"Oh, speaking of trouble," Arin realizes something and goes through her bag, "I want you to have this." She pulls out of Fresh Water and hands it to me, "To replace the water you had to you to put out that fire."

I chuckle, "You saw that?" I rub the back of my neck, "Thanks for this."

"No problem," She smiles widely, "It's the least I could do for you."

"Sorry to interrupt," Nurse Joy returns to the counter, "But the Ralts you brought in is recovering nicely, nothing a nice rest won't heal."

Arin breathes a sign of relief, "Oh thank Arceus."

"May I ask," Nurse Joy continues, "Is that Ralts either of your Pokemon?" Both of us shake our heads, "Well, then I will release the Ralts back into the wild once it fully recovers."

"Thank you again," Arin says to the Nurse, "I know we're not really allowed to bring in wild Pokemon…"

"What you did was perfectly fine," Nurse Joy assured her, "You saw a Pokemon in danger and you responded. It takes real bravery to intervene like you did."

Arin's cheeks turn a light red, "Well, I'm not sure if I could have made it out unscathed if it weren't for Terence here."

Again, I wave her off, "Don't mention it, just doing my job."

"What is your job, by the way?" Arin asks.

"I'm a certified Pokemon Ranger," I show her the Styler equipped to my forearm, "We get the help of the Pokemon in our environment to accomplish the task at hand."

"That's how you got the Wurmple to help you back there," Arin notices.

"Exactly," I explain, "After we no longer need their assistance, we release them back into the wild."

"That seems really cool!" Arin says, adjusting her bag strap, "I wish I had an idea of what I wanted to be."

"I'm sorry for asking, but how old are you?" I inquire.

"17. But I'm turning 18 in a few weeks," Arin explains, "How about you?"

"I turned 18 a few months ago," I reply, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find something you're passionate about soon."

"Let's hope so," Arin smiles and chuckles. She glances back at the monitor where Ralts could be seen, "We should get moving to Littleroot if we want to get there before lunch. I heard theres this little restaurant that servers really good food there!"

"Lead the way," I smile and we step out of the Pokecenter and start towards Littleroot Town.

And thus began my Hoenn Adventure and first encounter with my closest friend.

 **End of Chapter 1**

* * *

 **A/N: Hi, thanks for reading the first chapter of my story! Please feel free to leave any feedback whether that be praise or criticism, both are welcome. This chapter might seem a little fast paced or rushed and that's probably because I had the sudden urge to write at about 2:02am. Anyways, I'm still working out the story if there is any, so don't expect any set upload schedule. If you want to read the next chapter as soon as it's out, please give this a follow!**

 **Again, thanks for reading and 'till next time!**

 **-AS**


	2. Chapter 2 - Littleroot Town

"Torchic, ember!" I command as Torchic fires a wisp of flame at an attacking Zigzagoon. The tiny raccoon pokemon kicks up some sand which obscures our vision and runs off into the bushes.

Torchic hops around me happily, glad we fought off another wild pokemon.

"You know," Arin wonders, "I wanted to ask, why don't you use your Capture Styler to calm down wild pokemon that we normally encounter?"

"Back in Almia," I readjust my Styler around my forearm, "the wild pokemon were more docile. We could walk around the forest and not be targeted by any of the smaller pokemon. It's the bigger ones that we'd have to worry about."

"The Styler has a limited amount of energy and needs to be recharged if damaged," I continue, I help Arin down a small ledge as Torchic sits on my head, "I guess I'm just used to only using it when absolutely necessary."

"Huh," Arin nods, picking a few Oran berries from a nearby bush.

I notice her put them into a Berry Pouch, "I was also wondering something. You're almost 18, and you don't have a partner yet?"

Arin shakes her head, "I've been continuing my studies at school, so I haven't really had time to raise a pokemon. Besides, my folks have a Froslass back at home so it's not like I've been completely cut off from pokemon interaction."

"And where is home for you?" I ask, looking back at her.

"Verdanturf Town," she chuckles, "I'm a long ways from home, I know."

"Verdanturf…" I trace the map in my mind, "you had to go through Rusturf Tunnel? And Route 116? How'd you get through without any pokemon at your side?"

"I ran," Arin rubbed the back of her neck, " _Really_ fast. And some trainers along the way helped me through the areas where tall grass was most prevalent."

"Why _are_ you going to your uncle's place in Littleroot?"

"My uncle's a retired pokemon trainer," Arin explains, "My parents finally allowed me to travel the region once I finished my studies. So, I'm going to him to receive my first pokemon."

I nod understandingly, "You think you're up for it? Traveling the region is a pretty difficult task, especially for a first-timer."

" _Please_ ," she waves me off jokingly, "If a ten-year-old can do it, so can I."

We hop down another small ledge, Littleroot Town was in sight now.

"So why are _you_ heading to Littleroot?" Arin takes the chance to ask me.

I hold up my Styler, "I was instructed to do so by Professor Hastings." by the look on Arin's face she had no idea who that was, "He's the Ranger Union's Chief of Technology. He told me that Professor Birch researches pokemon habitats."

I hold up my Capture Styler, "We record every pokemon that we capture and their location. Since Almia has such a diverse climate, once Hastings heard I was going back to Hoenn, he recommended that I share my data with Professor Birch to help aid his own research."

As we walk down the path leading to Littleroot, I notice something on the side of the road. I walk over to examine the object.

"A satchel?" Arin notices, "Who's is it?"

I open the bag to find three pokeballs and a bunch of notes. A rustling in the bushes brings our attention to the forest and makes us drop the bag.

"Another pokemon?" Arin steps back, "But we're so close to the town."

"No," I say, squinting to see into the dark forest, "not quite."

A burly man in a lab coat stumbles through the undergrowth, "Ugh, I never thought I'd find a Zorua in this part of Hoenn," he mumbles to himself.

"Professor!" I shout, "Professor Birch!"

The professor looks up, "Oh, hello there!" He walks through the bushes, "Sorry about that, I was just chasing down a rare pokemon. Unfortunately, it got away."

"A Zorua?" Arin asks, "Aren't those native to Unova?"

"Indeed they are!" The professor dusts off his bag and slings it over his shoulder, "But in recent years, many pokemon from other regions have been discovered away from their natural habitats."

"And you're trying to document those locations?" I inquire.

"Precisely!" Professor Birch exclaims, but his expression changes, "But, if I may ask. Who are you two?"

* * *

Ah, I see," the professor pulls three pokeballs from his bag and sets them down on his desk, "You're from the Ranger Union. I haven't heard from Hastings in a while, good to know he's still out and about."

"He hoped the data in my Capture Styler could help you with your research," I take the gauntlet off my forearm and give it to him, "Almia's got a much different climate than most other regions. So do Fiore and Oblivia."

"Interesting. This is fascinating," he peers over the data as it downloads onto his computer. He turns to face Arin, "I'm guessing you're his partner?"

We look at each other, "No, no, sir," Arin dismisses the idea, "I just met Terence this morning. We were both headed here to Littleroot, so I kinda just tagged along."

"And why are _you_ here, Arin?" Birch disconnects my Styler from his computer and hands it back to me.

"Me?" Arin points to herself, "I'm here to receive my first pokemon from my uncle. He lives here in Littleroot."

Professor Birch taps his chin, "Arin Steele… Steele… Is your uncle Daniel Steele? Former semi-finalist in the Pokemon League?"

It was my turn to be surprised, "Your uncle was a semi-finalist in the Pokemon League Championship?"

"Heh," Arin laughs, embarrassed, "Yeah, that's him. He told me he's got a few lower leveled pokemon that would be easy for me to raise."

"Well I'd be glad to help you with your journey," Professor Birch gestures to the three Pokeballs he set down on his desk earlier, "Please, choose one."

"Excuse me?" Arin was surprised, "There's really no need, sir."

"Nonsense," the professor laughed, "It's my duty to oversee the start of many budding pokemon trainers' travels. Think of it as the start of your own adventure, even if you are a few years too late."

Arin couldn't wipe the smile off her face, "I don't know what to say. Thank you, professor!"

Professor Birch leads us to the desk where he releases the three pokemon from their Pokeballs. In front of us stands a Treecko, a Torchic, and a Mudkip. The professor's Torchic notices the one sitting on my shoulder and chirps at it. My own Torchic takes notices of the three starters and tries to jump down to greet them.

I catch my own Torchic before it reaches the floor. "Wait, I don't want you accidentally getting mixed up," I rummage through my bag, "Let's see…"

"Let me help," Arin pulls the bandana I returned to her out of her pocket. She ties the blue bandana around its neck, "There. Now you can tell the difference." I set Torchic down on the floor where he begins to run around the trio of starters.

Arin crouches down to get a better look at the three, "Hello there." The professor's Torchic is too busy playing with my own while the wood gecko pokemon leans against the table leg, arms crossed. The Mudkip sits down, observing the others.

Arin gives it some thought before turning towards the Mudkip. "Hey, little guy," she pats the mud fish pokemon, "How would you like to be my first partner?"

The Mudkip yips happily and hops around Arin. Professor Birch smiles, "Congrats on your first pokemon! Here are a few other items that may help you on your journey!" The professor hands her a brand new Pokedex as well as ten Pokeballs, which she gladly accepts.

"Thank you professor," Arin smiles widely, "I don't know what to say."

"No need for words," the professor grins widely, "Just go out there and enjoy your journey! And come back once in a while, I want to see how strong you've grown!"

"Of course!" Arin smiles, her eyes beaming. She looks over at me, "C'mon Terence. Let's go to my uncle's house."

We say our goodbyes to the professor and head out once more.

* * *

"Not too big of a town, is it?" I ask as we walk amongst the few residential houses there are in Littleroot.

"It's very quaint," Arin looks back at me. She leads the way to her uncle's house, "Everyone knows each other since the town's so small."

We pass by a few houses, each with a small sign in front dictating who's house it is. _Professor Birch's_ House, _Brendan's_ House, etc.

We finally arrive at a small house, but I guess it would be normal size compared to the other houses in Littleroot. Like the others before it, this house also has a sign out front. _Residence of Steele_ , it reads.

Arin takes in a deep breath and knocks three times. She turns to me, "Just letting you know, my uncle is kinda dull… I'm a little worried he's not going to…" The door opens and a broad-shouldered man stands there.

"Arin," he says in a monotone voice, "Come in."

Arin steps through the doorway. Her uncle looks at me, and without a single word closes the door in my face.

I stand there for a second, unsure what to do. Arin must've realized that I didn't follow her in because I can hear her trying to convince her uncle to let me in on the other side of the door.

After a minute of standing awkwardly outside, the door finally opens again. Arin stands behind her uncle with a nervous face and the man holds his hand out to shake, "Daniel Steele, former Pokemon Trainer. Arin tells me you're a Ranger that's going to accompany her on her journey."

I shake his hand nervously, "Terence Carter, Pokemon Ranger." I think about what he said, _I thought I was only taking Arin to Littleroot? I'll talk to her later._ This time he lets me enter the house.

We follow Mr. Steele into the living room. Arin walks by my side, "Sorry about that, hopefully he didn't say anything weird."

"Not at all," I reply, looking forward. Afraid to keep my eyes from wandering.

Mr. Steele takes a seat on one of the sofas and gestures for us to take a seat opposite him. "My brother told me that you were coming to get your first pokemon," he explains, looking at me, "He didn't say anything about bringing company, I apologize for the misunderstanding."

 _Misunderstanding?_ _Oh well._ "It's really not that big a deal," I try to smile.

He turns back to Arin and notices the Pokeball on her belt, "You went to see the professor?"

"Hmm?" Arin notices his gaze and maximizes the pokeball, "Oh yeah, we did. Mudkip, c'mon out!" The Pokeball opens and with a flash of red, the Mudkip appears on the coffee table.

"Interesting," Mr. Steele takes a closer look at the starter, "I haven't seen one of these in a while."

The Mudkip stares at Arin's uncle and he stares back at the water pokemon.

"Well, that's good," he says, reaching behind the couch for a box, "Your father told me that I should give you this. It's only fitting that you'd have one on your team."

Arin tilts her head, curious, "What is it?" He hands her the box which she begins to unwrap. Inside is a bit of insulation and an egg.

"When your father told me you wanted to go on a journey throughout Hoenn," Mr. Steele explained, "He told me I should give you a pokemon to start your journey with."

"Pardon me if this seems a bit rude," I butt in, "But you were going to give her an egg to start her journey?"

"Indeed," he says, without hesitation.

"But what if she needed to defend herself?" I ask, "Wouldn't an actual pokemon be better for that?"

Arin's uncle taps his chin, "I guess you do have a point…"

 _Good thing we went to the professor beforehand_ , I thought. I turn to Arin who's has an apologetic expression.

 _Sorry, he can be a bit air-headed at times_ , is what her expression conveyed.

"Thanks again, Uncle Daniel," Arin hugs the egg, "I'll take good care of it."

"No problem," Mr. Steele replies, standing up, "I wish you the best of luck on your journey."

We step out of the Steele's residence when Arin turns around to ask her uncle another question, "What kind of pokemon is in the egg?"

"That's just something you'll have to find out," he replies with a smirk, "In due time."

He looks over at me. "Nice meeting you Carter," he says with a wave.

I'm about to correct him, but I stop myself, _oh well_ , "It was a pleasure meeting you too, sir."

He nods, "Take care of my niece," he says before waving one last time and closing the door.

* * *

We now sit in a small cafe in the center of Littleroot, eating lunch.

"So, now what?" Arin asks, wiping her mouth with the napkin.

"Hmm?" I still have food in my mouth. Both Torchic and Mudkip sit next to their respective trainers, munching on pokemon food, while the egg is carefully tucked away in Arin's bag.

"I told my uncle that you were going to accompany me on my journey," Arin explains, "But, I did ask only to tag along until we reached Littleroot."

"Oh, that," I remember what her uncle had said when I first met him.

"So, are we going our separate ways after this?" Arin asks again.

"Well…" I scratch my head, "You've never had a pokemon battle before right?" Arin shakes her head. "And, you've never traveled by yourself?"

"Only from Verdanturf to here," Arin points out, "But I did get into some trouble on the way here, so..." She laughs nervously.

"Seems like you're a little underprepared for this journey," I reply, "What do _you_ want to do?"

"Well, the extra help wouldn't be too bad," Arin taps her index fingers together, "And to quote an expert: Traveling is always fun with more people."

"I said that," I smile, "Earlier today."

"Exactly!" Arin grins widely, " _You're_ the expert!"

"Flattery will get you nowhere," I take a sip of my drink.

"Awww," Arin pouts and crosses her arms, I laugh. "But is it really okay if I tag along?"

"I don't see why not," I say, "I used to go on solo patrols back in Almia. Traveling with a friend will be a new experience; for both of us."

"Then it's settled," Arin sticks out her hand, "Arin Steele. Prospective Pokemon Trainer and person who's still trying to figure things out."

I laugh again and shake her hand, "Terence Carter. Pokemon Ranger and apparent expert when it comes to all things traveling."

 **End of Chapter 2**

* * *

 **A/N: Hello again! Thanks for reading the latest chapter! Please feel free to leave any feedback whether it be praise or criticism, either is fine. I know this chapter didn't contain _too much_ to advance the story, but I promise I'll get to more exciting stuff soon. As for the egg currently in Arin's possession, if it isn't really obvious what it is then you might need to get your eyes checked my dear friend. Only kidding, but it does parallel her character well, I hope. Anyways, I'm still working out the story and still don't have an upload schedule. So, if you want to read the next chapter as soon as it drops, please consider following!**

 **Again, thanks for reading and 'till next time!**

 **-AS**


	3. Chapter 3 - Caught Out in the Woods

I yawn as I sit up, Torchic still sleeps on the edge of the sleeping bag. It's been a few days since I've started traveling with Arin. Her sleeping bag is empty and Mudkip's pokeball is missing. I hear the familiar crackle of fire outside.

I stand up, careful not to wake my sleeping partner and step outside.

"Ah, Terence," Arin is cooking something small over the fire, "You're up!"

"Yeah," I scratch my head, "I usually wake around this time. Surprised to see you up since you've been sleeping in for the past few days."

"Oh, you know," Arin tries to find an excuse, "It's just that we finally got to Petalburg Woods late last night and I wanted to go for a walk before the sun rose fully."

"Nice save," I sit down and pet Mudkip, who sits close to the fire and is clearly enjoying the warmth, "You could've said you wanted to make breakfast today."

"But that would make it seem like I feel guilty," Arin hands me a bowl of porridge, "And, you've woken up early for the past few days. So it's my turn today."

"So you _do_ feel guilty," I take a sip. "This is really good, what'd you put in it?"

"Nothing special," Arin takes a seat across from me with a bowl of her own, "I just used some of the leftovers we had from dinner and mixed it with a bit of Chesto berry powder."

"Alleviates drowsiness," I take another sip, "I never would've thought to do that. Color me impressed."

"Well, back at home I _did_ help my mom when it came to cooking meals," she explains, "She was the one that taught me that berries could be incorporated into our foods."

Torchic wanders out of the tent and Arin plops a bowl of pokemon food in front of him. The chick pokemon chirps happily and munches on the food.

"How's the egg doing?" I gesture to her bag, propped up against a log.

"It's not really showing any signs of hatching soon," Arin looks at her PokeNav, "Not knowing what type of pokemon it is is also keeping me from looking up its progress."

"Just keep looking after it," I set the bowl down, "And keep Torchic next to it at night. He's very warm to the touch."

Torchic hops over to Arin who picks up the fire type. "He _is_ very warm."

"Thanks for the food," I say, clapping my hands together and washing the bowl with some water, "Why don't you become a chef? You're really good at this."

"A chef? Me?" Arin laughs, "I like cooking but it's not something I want to _do,_ If you know what I mean."

"A botanist, maybe?" I clean Torchic's empty bowl, "You know a lot about berries. _And_ you recognize most berries at a glimpse."

Arin shrugs, "I studied _a lot_. I'm sure it'll come to me sometime. But now, I wanna focus on the road ahead."

"Speaking of the road ahead," I stand up, "We should pack up and head out soon. Petalburg Woods is pretty big and it'll be a while 'till we get to Route 104."

"Sure thing," Arin pours some water over the dwindling fire and helps me take down the tent.

* * *

Trees densely litter the woods, which shields us from the sunny weather which is growing hotter by the minute. Arin has taken a page out of my book and let Mudkip walk beside us instead of having him in his Pokeball. He and Torchic both walk alongside us; Torchic still wears the handkerchief around his neck.

"There's someone over there," Arin points out, squinting to see the figure.

It was a bug catcher. He catches our eye and runs over, "Hey! Are you two trainers?"

Arin and I look at each other and nod at the boy. "I'm Arin," she introduces herself, "And this is Terence. He's a Ranger."

The boy's eyes lit up, "My name's Lyle!" He turns to me, "You're a Ranger? That's so cool! I've never met a Ranger before."

"Well, we _are_ pretty uncommon in this part of the world," I rub the back of my neck and laugh nervously.

"Woah!" Lyle sees our starters, "Are these your partners?"

"Yeah," I crouch down, "I met Torchic back in the Almia region and Arin got Mudkip from Professor Birch!"

"That's so cool," Lyle beams, "I've never seen pokemon like that before!"

I smile at his enthusiasm, "But that aside, did you need something Lyle?"

"Oh, that's right!" Lyle holds out two pokeballs, "I recently caught some cool pokemon! I wanted to try them out in battle!"

"Are you challenging us to a battle?!" I exaggerate my excitement, "We'll take you down!"

"Yes! Double Battle!" Lyle pumps his fist in the air. He runs over opposite us and turns around, pointing at us, "I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!"

"We accept!" Arin shouts. She nudges me, "You're pretty good with kids."

"Yeah," I grin, "We interacted with kids a lot back when we did patrols."

Lyle throws his two pokeballs in the air, and with a flash of red, two flying pokemon appear before us. "Let's go! Dustox! Beautifly!"

"Mudkip, I choose you!" Arin commands and squeals in excitement, "I've always wanted to say that!"

"Torchic, lend me your flame!" I command as Torchic takes his place on the battlefield.

"Standard Double Battle rules," Lyle shouts over to us, "First to knock out all their opponent's pokemon wins."

"Sounds good," I glance over at Arin, this is her first pokemon battle. She doesn't seem too nervous.

"Okay!" Lyle shouts, "Dustox, Beautifly, gust!" The two airborne pokemon flap their wings. A large gust of air blows across the path, picking up small branches and debris.

"Water gun!" Arin counters. Mudkip fires a stream of water from its mouth, blasting straight through the strong winds and nailing Lyle's Beautifly. "Yes!"

"Ember!" I follow up, "Aim at Dustox!" Torchic launches a small flame towards the poison type pokemon but it narrowly avoids the attack.

"Dustox, Poison powder! Beautifly, stun 'em!" Lyle points. His pokemon both release spores into the air. Some of it lands on the battlefield.

"Torchic, burn it away!" Torchic's ember manages to burn through some of the spores, but it isn't enough. Some of the poisonous dust makes contact with the chick pokemon, poisoning it.

"You okay, Torchic?" Torchic chirps weakly in response.

"Mudkip, avoid the spores and use water gun again!" Arin begins to panic as the dangerous spores begin to settle. Mudkip also narrowly avoids the spores and fires through the dust with another beam of water, this time hitting Dustox.

"There we go!" Arin shouts, both of Lyle's pokemon are a bit disoriented, "This is our chance! Mudkip, tackle!"

"Wait, Arin!" I hold my hand out in front of her, "The field's covered in spores! Torchic, sand-attack!" Torchic powers through the poison and kicks up some sand, covering some of the exposed spores as well as lowering the opponent's accuracy.

"Mud-slap!" Arin commands, now that Mudkip can traverse the field, "And then tackle!" Mudkip follows her commands, avoiding the leftover spores and launching a ball of mud at the two bug pokemon. The ball clips Dustox's wing, disabling it for a split second as Mudkip jumps into the air, tackling it.

"Beautifly, string shot and then use absorb!" Lyle shouts. The Beautifly fires a strand of silk at the attacking Mudkip, trapping it.

Before the butterfly pokemon gets a chance to attack again, I take a chance. "Torchic, keep them at bay with ember! Then use scratch to free Mudkip." Torchic fires another flame at the two bug pokemon, which pushes them away. Dustox is beginning to show signs of weariness, as does Beautifly.

Torchic cuts Mudkip free from his string trap. Arin nods at me, "Thanks." She directs her attention back to the battle, "Mudkip, use this close distance to your advantage! Water gun!"

"Torchic, follow Mudkip's lead, Peck!" I call out. The two starters close the short distance between them and their opponents, Mudkip launching a stream of water at the dazed Beautifly and Torchic jumping up to peck the faltering Dustox. Both attacks nail the bug pokemon which sends them flying backward, landing on their backs.

"Yes!" Arin high-fives me, "We did it!"

"Aw man," Lyle groans, returning his pokemon to their pokeballs, "I thought I almost had it…"

"And you almost did," I knelt down to meet Lyle's eyes, "I was really worried for a second. You have some strong pokemon."

Arin walks up next to us, "You have some tough pokemon, Lyle. You must've trained them really well."

That managed to turn his frown upside down, "Really? I thought you guys were pretty strong, and cool!"

"Keep training those pokemon of yours," I say, handing him a potion, "And make sure you take care of them."

He beams with excitement and salutes me, "Yes, Pokemon Ranger, sir!"

"At ease," I laugh, "We're not soldiers here."

Arin reaches into her Berry Pouch and pulls out a few Oran berries, "Give these to your pokemon when they come to. It'll make them feel better."

"Thanks for the fun battle!" Lyle smiles widely, "I'll get stronger so we can battle again!"

"That's the spirit!" I smile back, "We look forward to it!"

* * *

We wave goodbye to Lyle as he heads off in a different direction. Arin breathes a sigh of relief, "For a second I thought we were going to lose."

"Yeah, I thought so too," I rummage through my bag, looking for an Antidote. Arin sees this and tosses me a Pecha berry, "Thanks." I feed the berry to Torchic, who immediately shows signs of feeling better.

"I didn't even think of the spores that landed on the floor," Arin sprays Mudkip with a potion, "How'd you know about that?"

"It was something I saw back on patrol," I too, gave Torchic a spritz of potion, "a kid tripped and fell on a dirt path that had some spores on it. He got a bit sick, but he recovered nicely."

"We need to come up with something against ranged pokemon," Arin notes, "We could strengthen our close-ranged attacks so that our pokemon could…" she turns her head as if she heard something.

"You know a lot about battle tactics," I notice, "Must've been all that —"

"Shhh," She shushes me with a finger to my lips, "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I reply in a hushed tone. Then I hear it, a rustling in the bushes. Not just one bush, all the bushes, all around us. Then they start walking out, small mushroom-looking pokemon; no taller than half a meter.

"Shroomish," I say quietly. Torchic hides behind me, "A horde of them."

"What do we do?" Arin holds onto Mudkip.

"Didn't you run fast enough to avoid these types of encounters?"

"Well, that doesn't work if we're surrounded," Arin counters, "How's Torchic?"

"He's still recovering," I look around nervously, the Shroomish have surrounded us, "I'm afraid he might not be too useful in a fight…"

"Alright, Mudkip," Arin sets down the mud fish pokemon, "I guess you're up."

"Careful," I say, "Don't attack them first and aggravate them even further."

"Then what am I supposed to do? Wait?" Arin and I are standing back to back now. Mudkip growls at the oncoming mushroom pokemon, intimidating them.

I click my Styler on, "I'll give you some backup."

"On three," Arin says worriedly, "One."

"Two," I continue, charging up my Capture Styler.

"Three!" Arin shouts, "Mudkip, water gun!" Mudkip fires a beam of water, but it doesn't seem too effective. The Shroomish shake off the water and keep advancing.

"Go, Capture Disc!" I shoot the disc out of its enclosure and guide it around a group of Shroomish. They spew out a purple powder which knocks the disc away.

"Poison!" I call out, "Cover your mouth!"

"Oh no," Arin recalls her pokemon, "Come back, Mudkip." She turns to me, "Terence, some help?"

"Working on it," I fire the disc once more, "Torchic, assistance please!" Torchic musters enough strength to fire an ember at the horde of Shroomish.

"Ugh," Arin holds her forehead, "My head."

I look back in worry, "Is it the poison?"

"No, it's just a headache," Arin explains, still covering her nose and mouth. Just then, I also feel a strong headache coming on. I flickering image of a short pokemon appears before us. It's just as tall as the Shroomish.

I call Torchic back to me just as a green haired pokemon with a red horn materializes in front of us, facing the angered pokemon. It raises its short arms and the headache grows stronger. I close my eyes and submit to the darkness.

* * *

I stand up, eyes still shut. My ears are ringing.

I lean against a tree, "Arin, are you alright?"

"Right as rain," she replies, "but like typhoon rain, that goes sideways."

I open my eyes and realize the Shroomish are all gone, "Where'd they all go?"

"Hmm?" I find Arin sitting on the floor with Mudkip a few meters away from me. Arin looks around in surprise, "Where are we?"

I help Arin up and we dust ourselves off, "Do you hear that?"

"Water," Arin says as we follow the sound. We emerge from the woods and end up on a path next to a lake. There's a flower shop down the path and a few trainers are walking along the path.

"This is Route 104," I announce, "How'd we get here?" I hear another rustling in the bushes and we turn quickly to encounter the pokemon.

"Ralts?" Arin cocks her head to the side, "Do Ralts live in Petalburg Woods?"

"Not according to the Pokedex," I bend down, "Hey there, little guy." I turn back to Arin, "Is this the same Ralts that you found on Route 102?"

"Who knows?" Arin also bends down next to me, "It could be."

"Ralts!" The feeling pokemon cries, "Ralts!"

"Were you the one who teleported us here?" Arin confronts the green haired pokemon.

The Ralts nods, "Did you follow us through the forest?" I ask it.

It nods again. I point at Arin, "Do you remember her?"

It nods, yet again. I turn to Arin, "I guess it _is_ the same Ralts. What do we do with it?"

"Maybe it wants to come with us," Arin wonders, "Because we saved it once before, it was returning the favor!"

"Do you want to add it to your team?" I offer, "Since you saved it first."

Arin thinks for a second then shakes her head, "I've already got a second pokemon," she pats the egg inside her bag, "You should add it to your team if it'll let you."

We both look at the Ralts, who stares back at us in curiosity.

"Hey Ralts," I place a pokeball in front of it, "How about you join us on our journey?"

The feeling pokemon smiles and hops once. "Ralts!" It cries before touching the center of the pokeball. It disappears in a flash of red and the pokeball begins to shake.

Once.

Twice.

Three times. Click.

"Capture complete!" I announce out of habit and hold up the pokeball.

Arin claps, "Congrats!" She releases Mudkip out of his pokeball and I do the same for Ralts and Torchic.

"Welcome to the team, Ralts," I smile as the starters get aquatinted with the new pokemon.

"Oh, Terence!" Arin points and jumps up and down, "There's a flower shop over there! Let's go!" She runs off. Mudkip follows her as do Torchic and Ralts.

"The adventure never stops," I chuckle to myself as I chase after them.

 **End of Chapter 3**

* * *

 **A/N: Hello! Thanks so much for reading the latest chapter! Please feel free to give any feedback you have, whether it be good or bad. If you** ** _really_** **know the games, you know that Lyle's pokemon aren't Dustox and Beautifly, but instead are three Wurmple. I tried to give Terence and Arin more of a challenge than just fighting a bunch of low leveled bugs. As for Ralts, I've always had big plans for how to use her power in the future, if I even get that far. So, I apologize if her return was really sudden. I tried to think of a way to bring her back without revisiting Route 102. I also had to get creative with the battle, since none of them have their stronger moves yet. Next time, Rustboro City!**

 **Again, thanks for reading and 'till next time!**

 **-AS**


	4. Chapter 4 - Familiar Faces

We waved goodbye to the shop owners of the flower shop as we made our way down Route 104 and towards the lake. The late afternoon sun shone down on us as the sun began started to set.

Arin seemed unfazed by the sun's rays, "Look at this thing!" She holds out a newly purchased watering pail shaped like a familiar pokemon, "It's a Pailmer!"

I chuckled at her childish innocence, "C'mon. We should try getting to Rustboro by sundown, 'less we want to get swarmed again."

"Agreed," Arin nods and looks down to Ralts, who was following us on foot, "Thanks again, Ralts! I don't know what kind of trouble we'd be in if it weren't for you."

"Ralts!" The pokemon cries out, smiling, as if it were happy to help.

I tap Ralt's pokeball to the side of my Styler and an info panel pops up, giving me information on my pokemon.

"Woah," Arin looks over my shoulder, "What's that?"

"Ralt's stats and info," I explain, "My styler is able to get this info from pokemon we've caught or captured in order to help us with our work."

"So, kinda like the Pokedex?" Arin holds up her own device, showing Mudkip's stats and an image of the unknown egg.

"Exactly like the Pokedex," I reply, "It also has a map and communications feature like your Pokenav."

"Wow, it's like everything combined into one," Arin beams, "I wish I had one."

"It _is_ pretty cool," I smile, "But I worked hard for this thing. Just like you, I went to school. Then I graduated and worked at the local Ranger Base until I was finally relocated to the Ranger Union a few years later."

"What's the Ranger Union like?" Arin asks, "Almia's a much different place than many of the other regions."

"It's this big tower," I explain, reminiscing about my time there, "With a giant tree on its roof. And a bunch of Rangers would fly in and out every day on Staraptor."

"You guys flew on pokemon?! That's so cool!" Arin exclaims, "You think you can take me flying one day? _Please?_ "

I laugh at her enthusiastic response. "Someday," I reassure her, "We haven't really seen too many large bird pokemon around lately."

"Promise," Arin says, "Promise me you'll remember."

I hold my hand in the air, "I swear."

"I'll hold you to that," Arin smiles and starts down the bridge snakes across the lake.

"I wouldn't doubt it," I follow her, making our way along the final stretch to Rustboro as the sun's setting rays dyed the lake an orange color.

* * *

"We apologize for inconveniencing you," I read off the sign in front of the gym, "The gym leader has left on urgent business and will be back soon. Please come back later. Once more, we would like to apologize for the inconvenience."

It was now the next day. We'd taken on a few battles on the bridge with a few other trainers the previous day and planned the challenge the gym the next morning. But, plans have changed.

Arin groaned, "We even rushed through breakfast for this! I thought we'd get this done, easy peasy."

"Well, these things do come up," I shrug, "Might as well take a look around the city since we got here late. We could even do some training on Route 116 before I actually challenge the gym."

"I guess," Arin crossed her arms, "I was just looking forward to an actual gym battle…"

"That reminds me," I turn to her, "Are _you_ going to challenge the gym?"

"Me?" She points at herself, "Oh, no, I'm not. I was never going to enter the league tournament, just journey around the region."

I nodded understandingly, "Makes sense since you _are_ looking out for what you want to do in the future."

Arin exclaims, "If we're going to stay in Rustboro, can we check out the Devon Corporation?" She points to the tall building across the street, "I saw it last time when I traveled through here on my way to Littleroot and I wanted to check it out."

"Sure thing," I say, following her, "Devon is the company that makes many of the things trainers use right?"

Arin confirms this, "Yep, I heard they rival Silph Co. They even have a device to bring pokemon back from fossil form!"

It was my turn to act surprised, "You certainly know your stuff."

"All textbook knowledge," Arin explains, tapping her head, "We had an entire chapter on these kinds of companies, I almost —" She got cut off when a stranger ran into her. I had to catch her from falling over.

"Watch it, kid," he said sternly as he walked away.

"Hey!" I shout after the stranger, but he had already turned the corner and disappeared. "You okay?" I help Arin up.

She dusts herself off, "Yeah, I'm fine. Can you believe some people?"

"Yeah, tell me about it," I scoff. I try to pay it no mind and move on. But something seemed off about the whole situation. I dismiss the thought as we continue towards the Devon Corporation building.

* * *

The building was comprised mostly of stone, much like many of the other buildings in Rustboro, and was at least three stories tall. We step into the lobby and are greeted by a large glass display in the floor displaying a mural of fossilized pokemon and plants. Next to the reception desk was a small shop similar to a Pokemart that sold goods developed by Devon.

"Woah," Arin is immediately drawn towards the display in front of the shop, "Look at all the different kinds of pokeballs!"

"Might be a good idea to stock up on a few of these," I say, paying the cashier for a handful of medicines. "Thank you."

"Thank you for your patronage," the cashier bows slightly as we move on.

We approached a wall that displayed yet another mural of the history of the Devon Corporation, apparently starting from a small mining company to the industry giant it was today. There were glass cases that lined the walls, each with a product developed by Devon; an old version of the PokeNav, a pair of shoes, and some sort of scuba gear.

"Well, well, well," A gruff voice approached us from behind, "What do we have here?"

The two of us turned around in surprise and we came face to face with a bbroad-shouldered man. He had white hair and was dressed in a navy suit with a white hat on his head, a black stripe ran around the side of his hat.

"President Stone," Arin recognized immediately, "An honor." We both lowered our heads out of respect.

He raises his hand and chuckles, "No need for formalities, I'm just checking on our customers." He recognizes my unfamiliarity and reaches his hand out to shake, "Joseph Stone, President of the Devon Corporation."

I shake his hand, "Terence Carter, Pokemon Ranger. This is my friend, Arin Steele."

"How do you do, sir?" Arin shakes his hand as well.

"I'm fine, young lady," President Stone chuckles, "What brings you two to our establishment today?"

"Just taking a look around, sir," I explain, "Arin has never been here before and I've spent most of my life in Almia."

President Stone laughs, "Of course! It's great seeing people actually interested in what we do here. Most people just buy our products but pay little to no attention to all the work that's being done here."

"I'm sure it's a very hardworking establishment," I say out of respect.

He laughs again, but his expression turns darker, "Well, if this were any other day I'd personally give you a tour of the upper levels, but it seems that there is some trouble I need to attend to."

"Trouble?" Arin perked up as if drawn to the word, she looks at me, "Is there any way we can help, sir?"

"Well, I don't see the harm," the old man chuckles, "Please follow me to Route 116."

* * *

We followed President Stone, alongside a few scientists dressed in lab coats, to the inner stretch of Route 116.

We approached the entrance to Rusturf Tunnel, "What seems to be the problem?" I speak up.

"We've encountered a problem with some wild pokemon," one of the scientists explains, "We've been trying to contain the problem for some time."

All of the sudden, a huge roar made us all cover our ears. "What in the…" Arin says, wincing from the deafening sound.

"I'll say…" I squint as we approach the tunnel's entrance. Large, purple pokemon stomping around and causing a ruckus. Signs and safety tape are keeping people away from the scene.

"Exploud?" I realize, "A few of them?"

"And they've been on the rampage for a few days," another voice approaches us. We turn around to a girl shorter than the two of us. She had a black dress, red stockings, and a red bow tying her hair back into two twin tails.

"Roxanne!" I exclaim, and look over at Arin, "That's why the gym's closed."

"For the time being," Roxanne looks down, "Nothing we've done has calmed the rampaging pokemon, and we can't get any closer than this."

"Do Exploud usually show up here?" I ask, "I thought the tunnel was inhabited by lower leveled Whismur?"

"It is true that Whismur are the most common pokemon encountered throughout the tunnel," Roxanne explains, "Exploud don't usually emerge from deep within the cave without some sort of provocation."

Arin and I release our pokemon after yet another roar from the Loud Noise pokemon, "This isn't something we can handle with just our pokemon," I explain to Arin, "We don't stand a chance. The Exploud are too high of a level, not to mention agitated."

"What do we do then?" Arin has a worried look on her face.

It's then when one of the Exploud notices the crowd of people standing around the safety tape and roars in our direction, making us cover our ears yet again. This alerts the rest of the agitated pokemon to our presence. Some of them begin to charge.

"Too late!" I try to get some of the people out of the way, "Go on the defensive!"

Roxanne reaches into her bag and throws out two pokeballs, releasing a Golem and a Onix, "Protect them!"

"Torchic! Lend me your flame!" I hold up my Stylus, "Poke Assist! Go, Capture Disc!" The disc shoots out of my gauntlet, red with fire. The disc leaves a trail of fire as it circles the charging pokemon, noticeably tiring them with the heat.

Just then, another disc shoots out from behind us, leaving a trail of tall grass and slowing the Exploud even further. I turn in surprise. _No, it couldn't be_.

Behind us, running closer was a familiar face from back at the Ranger Union.

"Luther!" I focus my attention back on the rampaging pokemon, "What are _you_ doing here?" I say through gritted teeth.

"Same reason you are," his partner, a Grovyle, assisting him in the capture, "Just helping out!"

He reaches our side, out of breath since he was running for so long, "How's it going?"

"Not the time," I say, "Roxanne's taking care of a few of them. I'll go for the one on the right, you go left."

"That's no way to talk to your commanding officer," Luther retaliates, but still goes left.

"You're not my commanding officer anymore," I reply, "and you're forgetting that _I_ outrank you now!"

"All talk," he smirks, "Let's catch up after the capture."

"Agreed," I put my hand in front of Arin, "Stand back, this could get dangerous."

Arin nods and takes a step back, holding Mudkip in her arms. Torchic stands next to me, assisting me with the capture, and Ralts stands behind me.

"Ralts, I need your help," I whip the capture disc around, dodging another auditory attack, "Can you do that?"

The feeling pokemon nods and holds her hands up to lend me her psychic power.

"Alright! Stop them in their tracks!" I shout, "Poke Assist!" The flames around my capture disc burn out and are replaced by the purple glow of Ralts' psychic power, freezing the rampaging pokemon in their tracks.

I pump my fist in the air, but I know our job isn't done. I look over at Luther who seems to be doing fine, ensnaring an Exploud with vines sprouting from his capture line. Roxanne also seems to be holding her own with her Golem and Onix taking on two Exploud.

I retract my capture disc and let it charge up before shooting it out once more, "Power Charge! Let's finish this!" A brighter beam of light follows my capture disc, circling the trapped pokemon. But before I can finish my capture, the Exploud breaks free from Ralts' psychic trap and roars, breaking the capture line.

I groan as the disc shoots back to me, but I noticed something strange when that Exploud roared. I shot my disc upwards and the Exploud looked up following it's trajectory. There was a small device attached to it's chest, in the center of the Exploud's circular stomach pattern.

"Luther! Roxanne!" I call over to the two battling their own agitated Exploud, "There's something controlling them! Go for the device on their chests!"

Roxanne tilts her head and notices the device, "Golem, Rock Blast! Onix, Iron Tail! Aim for the chest!" The Golem launches a boulder at the rampaging Exploud, nailing it straight in the chest, crushing the device. Onix swipes at another Exploud with it's tail, also crushing the small device.

Luther also takes notice of the device and commands his partner, "Grovyle, Leave Blade!" The Wood Gecko pokemon throws sharp leaves at the agitated pokemon, knocking the device off.

"Ralts, you too! Disarming Voice!" I command as the fairy type attack hits the Exploud, knocking it back and _disarming_ the device. Heh.

Immediately, the Exploud start to calm down. They look around in confusion as if they had no idea they were responsible for so much damage. They begin to wander back into the cave from which they came.

* * *

"Finally!" Luther sighs, sounding relieved and taking a seat in the grass, "My stylus almost ran out of energy. Those auditory attacks are really tricky to dodge…"

"You could've told me you were coming," I offered my hand to help him up.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were here," He takes my hand and stands back up, "Who's this?" He gestures to Arin who had walked up behind me.

"This is Arin Steele," I explain, "I met her on the way to Littleroot to meet the Professor. We've been traveling together for a little bit. Arin, this is Luther Yahto, my _former_ mentor at the Union."

"Nice to meet you," Luther extends his hand to shake.

"Likewise," Arin shakes his hand with a wide smile.

Roxanne approaches the three of us, "Rangers, I thank you for helping out. I don't know what we could've done without you."

Arin rubs the back of her head, "Well, I didn't really do anything. These two did most of the work."

"And not just that, but you _did_ take on two of the wild pokemon yourself," I point out.

"That still doesn't diminish the feat the you two performed," Roxanne smiles, "Thank you again."

"It's really no problem," Luther waves his hand, "The most important part is we stopped them from causing any further damage."

"Speaking of damage," I say, walking over to one of the scientists who is studying the crushed device laying in the grass, "What is it?"

"I'm… not quite sure…" The scientist puts on a pair of gloves before picking up the oddly shaped device. He turns to President Stone who had approached us, "Are you sure this is the tech we salvaged?"

I pick up the device that Ralts knocked off and studied it. The device was mostly intact. "Wait a second…" I turn the center of the device and the casing pops off, revealing a familiar circuitry. A dark colored crystal sits in the center and seems to be the source of the the device's power. I turn to Luther, "This is Miniremo tech."

Luther groans, "Again? I thought we dealt with this."

"You're familiar with this technology?" A scientist approached me, Arin tailing behind him.

"We've seen it before," Luther explains, "Back in Almia."

"They seem to be revised versions of Miniremos," I add on, further disassembling the device.

"Mini-what nows?" Arin tilts her head to the side.

"Mi-ni-re-mos," I pronounce slowly, "A miniaturized version of the Gigaremos, devices used to control pokemon against their will. They were developed by Team Dim Sun—"

"Dim Sum?"

"—Dim _Sun_ , to take control of Almia. I thought we stopped them years ago."

"We recovered this artifact from a shipwreck," one of the scientists explained, "It was subsequently stolen from the Devon Corporation building as we were trying to study it."

"Artifact? No, this is a weapon," I hold the intact device in my hand, "Anyone who gets a hand on this tech is dangerous."

"This needs to be reported to the authorities," Luther explains, "Tell them to keep an eye out for any suspiciously angry pokemon. If they're able to reverse engineer Gigaremo tech they could even turn pokemon against their own trainers…"

"Arin and I will keep an eye out as we continue our travels," I say, turning to President Stone, "Any idea who stole this from you?"

President Stone shook his head, "We're conducting our own investigation. At first, we thought it might've been someone from either Team Magma or Aqua."

I look at Luther, "That can't be good."

"We did bump into a strange guy on the way here," Arin reminds me, "That rude dude crossing the street in front of the gym?"

"We'll look into the incident further," President Stone says, "We will report the event to the police and see if they picked up anything on their surveillance."

"Anyways," Roxanne speaks up, "Rangers, we thank you again for your help in this endeavor. I will be returning to the gym for the time being."

"Indeed," one of the scientists continues, "We will return to Devon to further investigate the nature of the device."

We wave the two groups of people as they return to the city. Now, all that's left are the three of us.

"So Arin," Luther turns to her, "How'd you meet Terence? I can't imagine him approaching a girl like you."

I elbow him in the gut, "Actually, he saved me when I tried to rescue Ralts here." Arin explains, gesturing at the Ralts standing by my side.

He rubs his chin while I change the subject, "So, Luther. Why _are_ you in Hoenn?"

"Ah you know," Luther waves me off, "Work stuff. And by that I mean they asked me to be stationed here in Hoenn because they heard of some suspicious activity. Looks like they were right."

"They certainly were," I smirked, "It's been good seeing you man."

"You too," we bump fists.

"You're traveling on your own?" Arin speaks up.

"Yes ma'am," Luther tips his imaginary hat, "Maybe I'll tag along some other time, but for now, this is good bye."

We wave good bye to Luther as he runs off, his partner trailing behind him. Now it was just Arin and I standing on Route 116. It seemed almost too quiet now compared to the intense battle that had just taken place.

"He was your commanding officer?" Arin suddenly brings up.

I facepalm and chuckle to myself, "Yeah, he was. Those were simpler times back then."

"Can you tell me about it?"

"That's…" I look up to the sky which was beginning to clear, "That's a story for another day."

 **End of Chapter 4**

* * *

 **A/N: Hello! Thanks so much for reading the latest chapter! Please feel free to leave any feedback, good or bad. This chapter will come out a bit later than I had planned because I've been a bit busy for the past week. But excuses aside, more characters! I'm planning to introduce at least one more OC but I'm not really sure where or when. I did say we'll be in Rustboro this chapter, and we were! Just no gym battle. That's for the next chapter! And also people are going to point out that Terence couldn't even handle a swarm of Shroomish, how was he going to handle high leveled, agitated Exploud? Well, from experience, swarms of pokemon were definitely more difficult to capture because they'd constantly be running around and breaking your capture line. And not to mention all the spores he would've inhaled at the scene. That's all I have to say. Please give the story a follow since, as evident from my late upload, I don't have a set upload schedule.**

 **Anyways, again, thanks for reading and 'till next time!**

 **-AS**


	5. Chapter 5 - The First Gym

We stood at the foot of a long meeting table on the top floor of the Devon Corporation. President Stone had sent someone to meet us as we returned to the city. He met us at the entrance of the building and personally gave us a guided tour of the upper floors.

"I want to thank you again for your help, Ranger." President Stone bowed his head slightly, "I don't know what we would've done without you. Not only were we unaware of the dangerous nature of the artifact, but to have it stolen from our very facility…"

"It's quite alright," I reassure him, "To be perfectly honest, we Rangers thought we got rid of this tech for good a few years ago. So, part of the blame lies on us."

"May I ask," Arin speaks up, "Why bring us up here?"

"Ah, of course," President Stone gestures for a staff member, "I wouldn't feel right without giving you something in return for the help you gave us today."

"That really isn't necessary—" I was abruptly cut off by the older man.

"This is something we've been working on," a staff member hands Mr. Stone a glass cylinder, "A portable incubation chamber. I noticed that Ms. Steele here has been carrying a pokemon egg."

"Yes, I have," Arin pulls out the egg from her bag.

"Well, for you," President Stone hands her the glass device, "It's reusable too! If you happen to find any more eggs in the future. A couple kilometers in this thing and it'll hatch in no time!"

Arin accepted the device and bowed her head, "Thank you so much, sir."

President Stone turns to me, "And for you, my boy. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a bit for this one." He hands me a letter. "I don't have any of these here at the company building, but my son definitely will have some on hand. He's staying in Slateport for the foreseeable future. If you would deliver this letter to him he's sure to understand. I hope you don't mind"

I, too, bow my head, "Of course not, sir. We should be headed through Slateport after we visit Dewford, so it won't be a detour on our travels."

"Perfect!" The old man exclaims and pulls out his PokeNav, "Here, let me give you my contact information. If you need any help whatsoever, please do not hesitate to call."

We both bow one last time, "Thank you for all the kindness you've shown us, sir. We'll be on our way."

* * *

We look up to see President Stone waving goodbye from the third-floor window. We wave back. "He's pretty nice," Arin notes.

"Sure is," I smile. I hold up the letter he gave me and put it back in my bag, "Wonder what's in here."

"A letter, duh," Arin says, holding the incubator in her hands. The egg sitting neatly inside.

"No, I mean what the letter says," I reply, "And doesn't it seem a bit unfair that you got the gift first?"

"I don't know what you mean," Arin whistles innocently, "But who knows, maybe your thing will be _way_ better than just some incubator."

"Hopefully," I smirk. We now stand in front of the Gym, the previous notice from this morning was now removed and the doors open. "Alright, it's now or never."

"Right," Arin nods her head and follows me inside.

Once inside, we are greeted by two large stone statues of the Pokemon League symbol. We stood on a white tile floor and were surrounded by glass displays of fossils and other mining tools. Towards the back of the gym, rock walls rose higher than ourselves, and larger than life versions of fossil pokemon stood looming over us.

"Intimidating, don't ya think?" Arin notes.

"Not at all," my grip on my pokeball gets stronger, "Let's go."

We walk through the rows of displays. I guess the front of the gym was more for visitors than challengers since it reminded me much of a museum, not unlike Devon Corp which we had just visited.

Now in front of us stood the real challenge. Rock walls stood taller than ourselves with only one visible entrance.

I put my hand on the right wall and begin to walk.

"What're you doing?" Arin asks out of curiosity.

"I've heard that the first challenge of the rock type Gym was a maze," I explain, "Stick with me, we don't want to get separated."

Arin nods and follows closely behind.

Right, left, dead end.

Turn, right, right, left, right, dead end.

Left, right, left, right, right…

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake beneath us.

"What's going on?" Arin holds onto the wall to steady herself.

"I'm… not sure," out of the corner of my eye I see a wall sprout out from the ground, changing the path.

"No time for tracing walls!" I grab Arin's hand and rush forward, "The maze is changing!"

"Ah!" Arin shrieks as she runs quickly to avoid another wall.

"This way!" I peek around corners, looking for any indication for the end of the maze.

"There!" Arin points. There's a sign up ahead. It looks like the end of the maze.

We run as fast as we can, a wall nearly sprouting ahead of us, but we make it in time. We stop to catch our breaths, who knew the gym would be this challenging _before_ we even had to battle the gym leader.

The sign pointed in two directions labeled _Challenger_ and _Viewing Platform_.

"Well, I guess I go this way," Arin points towards a set of stairs.

I nod, taking hold of a pokeball from my belt, "Wish me luck."

"You don't need luck," Arin reassures me with a pat on the back, "I've seen how you battle. You've got this!" She gives me a thumbs up before disappearing up the stairs.

I take another deep breath and head down the hallway to the battlefield.

* * *

"Terence Carter," a voice calls out from an elevated platform, "I've been expecting you."

I recognize the figure, "Roxanne," I smirk.

The gym leader bows, "Thank you again for the help at Rusturf Tunnel."

"Just doing my job," I also bow, "Besides, you handled it pretty well yourself." I look up to see Arin standing on a balcony, Mudkip in her arms. She waves enthusiastically and I wave back.

"Ah yes, you're a Ranger. We don't see many of you in these parts," Roxanne explains, "I'm looking forward to seeing how you handle an intense battle."

"Looking forward to it," I reply.

Roxanne looks up and notices Arin, "If you wanted it easy you should've borrowed your friend's Mudkip."

"Believe me," I hold out my two pokeballs, "I'm not here for an easy battle."

"Well then," Roxanne holds out her own pokeballs, "For formalities sake, let me begin. I am Roxanne, the Rustboro City Pokemon Gym Leader! I became a Gym Leader so that I may apply in battle all that I've learned at the Pokemon Trainers' School! Now, would you kindly demonstrate how you battle with your pokemon?"

"Terence Carter," I introduce myself, "Pokemon Ranger of the Almia region. I've returned to my home region of Hoenn to take part in the Pokemon League Challenge!"

A referee who was sitting at the side until now steps onto the battlefield and announces, "Let the Gym Battle between Gym Leader Roxanne and Challenger Terence Carter begin!"

Roxanne chuckles, "Let us begin," she throws a pokeball in the air, "Geodude, take center stage!"

"Ralts, lend me your power!" I command. Ralts appears in a flash of red, ready to battle. Ralts looks at Geodude and closes her eyes, concentrating on the opposing pokemon.

"Let's get this started!" Roxanne points, "Geodude, Rollout!"

"Ralts, Teleport away!" I command as the feeling pokemon warps out of the way.

"Teleport isn't usually a defensive move," Roxanne notes.

"It isn't," I smirk, "By why shouldn't it be? Ralts, Double Team and then Teleport again!"

Ralts appears once more, summoning clones of herself and teleporting away, hiding amongst the clones. Arin watched from above and was still having a hard time keeping track of where Ralts had disappeared off to.

"Rock Throw!" Roxanne ordered her Geodude, "Find which one is the real Ralts, then use Rollout again!"

The Geodude starts throwing rocks at the surrounding illusions, "Ralts, confusion!"

All the copies follow the original as Ralts lifts her hands and the telekinetic attack ripples through the field, causing the opponent to clutch its head.

"Move again! Keep your location hidden!" Ralts disappears again and reappears somewhere else.

The Geodude is confused and looks around frantically, "Don't give up hope! Rollout and attack multiple clones!" Roxanne is aware of the dire situation her pokemon is in.

"Ralts, keep it up! Disarming Voice!" I point. Ralts follows my command and cries out. Unfortunately, none of the clones do the same thing so Ralts' position is given away. Geodude is knocked back by the attack, but not knocked out.

"Perfect! Geodude, Rock polish and then Rollout!" Roxanne smirks. Geodude rolls around on the rocky battlefield and rushes forward to attack. It's moving much faster now due to the increased speed buff.

"Ralts, get out of there!" I command just as Ralts teleports away. But the Geodude is persistent. It doesn't hesitate and continues its assault.

"Get in front of those boulders! Wait for the next attack," I point to one of the rock formations jutting out from the battlefield. Ralts nods and teleports next to one.

Geodude spots this and rolls forward, going for the attack.

"Hold it," I say as I watch the rock pokemon rolls faster and faster, getting closer and closer to Ralts.

"Out of there, now!" Ralts teleports away at the last second as Geodude slams into the rock formation. That, coupled with its previous confusion from Ralts' attack causes it to spin around in dizziness.

"Alright! Disarming Voice, once more!" Ralts reappears and cries out once more, sending the Geodude back into the boulder, knocking it out.

The referee blows his whistle, "Geodude is rendered unable to battle. Ralts has won the first round!"

"Ah! Geodude, return," Roxanne looks disappointed as she recalls the fainted pokemon, "I underestimated you, Carter. You certainly know how to communicate with your pokemon well."

"Well, years of working as a Ranger has solidified that," I call Ralts back to me but keep her on the battlefield.

"We're not done yet," Roxanne smirks, sending another pokeball flying, "Nosepass, show 'em how it's done!" The compass pokemon bursts forth from its pokeball, raises its hands and calls out.

"Alright Ralts," I command, "Let's do this again! Teleport and use double team once more!" Ralts repeats the tactic that we used from the previous match and creates clones of herself before teleporting away to hide.

"I'm not going to make the same mistakes again," Roxanne announces, "Nosepass, Thunder Wave!"

Nosepass summons a wave of electricity that surges through the battlefield destroying copy after copy as it travels. Eventually, the wave of electricity finds its way to Ralts and paralyzes her. Soon enough, all the copies on the field have been eliminated.

"Ah, Ralts!" I call out, "Can you move?" My pokemon cries out but is unable to move from its position.

"Paralyzed," Roxanne smiles, "Nosepass, Rock Tomb!" The Nosepass raises its arms and brings down rocks crashing down around Ralts.

"Rock Throw!" Roxanne commands again, seeing that my Ralts is trapped and paralyzed. Nosepass follows the command and launches a rock hurtling towards the direction of the feeling pokemon.

I wince as Ralts is unable to avoid the projectile and is knocked back pretty hard, hitting one of those rock formations as she's knocked back.

However, Ralts seems to be able to move, "Ralts, come on back! Torchic, take over!" Ralts teleports to my side, close to being knocked out, and Torchic bursts from his pokeball and enters the battlefield.

"Switching out your pokemon when they are unable to battle, I see," Roxanne notes, "So be it. Nosepass, another Thunder Wave!"

"Torchic, kick up some sand, and hide behind one of those rocks," I command. Torchic throws a cloud of sand in Nosepass's direction, lessening the effect of the Thunder Wave. The rest of the attack is neutralized as it hits the rocks Torchic hides behind.

"Sand?" Roxanne questions, "Well, it's not a sandstorm, but it'll do. Nosepass, Rock Tomb!"

This time, the attack seems slightly different. The rocks are bigger and they're more numerous than before. Torchic panics as it sees the falling rocks and rushes out of the way. Just in time too.

"Torchic, are you alright?" I ask. He chirps back with determination. "Alright, let's stay in this battle as long as we can. Keep dodging!"

Torchic ducks as Nosepass attacks with Rock Throw, "Don't give in! Nosepass, another Thunder Wave!" Torchic is able to dodge the wave as he hides behind another rock formation.

"Keep running! Get close and use Ember!" I shout. Torchic keeps running around the opponent, dodging the thrown rocks and gradually getting faster when doing so. Torchic runs up to the Nosepass and before it can retaliate Torchic hits it with a flame attack.

"You might have stronger attacks than us," I announce, "But we certainly have the speedier bunch."

Roxanne picks up on my tactic, "Nosepass, Rock Tomb! Keep that Torchic at bay!"

Nosepass summons another barrage of rocks, but Torchic is able to dodge most of the larger ones.

"Get up close! Ember, then Peck!" Torchic does this, but it doesn't seem to do much against the compass pokemon.

"Retreat! Use Ember as a range and when you can get close use Scratch!" I call Torchic back. I don't want Nosepass attacking at close range. Fire types are at a disadvantage against Rock Types. But we have the speed to make up for it.

"Rock Tomb!" Roxanne calls out, "Let's end this!"

"Torchic, Ember!" I command. Torchic launches a flame towards Nosepass, nailing it straight on. _Critical hit_.

Unfortunately, Torchic wasn't so lucky. Although he was able to outrun most of the rock attacks, he got boxed in and hit with a final falling rock.

"Oh no," I hear an audible gasp from Arin watching from above.

"Torchic is unable to battle," The referee calls out, "Nosepass wins this round!"

"Yes!" Roxanne shouts, celebrating. She clears her throat and begins her speech, "Unfortunately, you were unable to win. Please take this chance to —"

"Ralts, lend me your power once more!" I interrupt her speech and call Ralts to the battlefield one more time.

"What?!" Roxanne is surprised. She had forgotten that Ralts had not been knocked out but was instead still standing.

"Let's confuse 'em first," I smirk, "Then Double Team!"

Ralts cries out as it fires a psychic attack and creates clones of itself throughout the battlefield.

Roxanne is clearly still shocked by the sudden comeback, "Uh, use Rock Throw to get rid of those copies."

Nosepass, however, is confused by the psychic attack and is throwing rocks around at random. One of them happens to fly upwards and comes straight down. The compass pokemon gets nailed by one of its own attacks.

"Take this chance and use Disarming Voice!" I clench my fist. _This is it!_

For a final time, Ralts cries out and strikes the rock type with the auditory move. The Nosepass, clearly confused and weak from the barrage of attacks, falls over, ending the battle.

"Nosepass is rendered unable to battle," The referee calls out and holds a flag in my direction, "The Challenger, Terence Carter, has won the battle!"

"Ralts, return," I call Ralts back into her pokeball, "Rest up, you deserve it." I look up to find Arin and Mudkip celebrating from the viewing balcony. She sees me and rushes down in excitement.

"See? I told you, you didn't need luck!" She punches me playfully, "You had me worried there for a second."

I laugh nervously and rub the back of my neck, "To be honest, there was some luck involved. If Torchic hadn't gotten that critical hit, I might not have won."

"I have to say… I'm impressed," Roxanne had walked down from her leader platform and approached the two of us, "Challenging the gym when you have the type disadvantage and the lower level. You did well."

I bow as does she, "Thank you. It was a good battle."

"Indeed," she fishes around her pocket, "May I ask, how Ralts was able to battle for so long?"

"Ralts traced your Geodude's Sturdy ability," I point out. I chuckle, "Honestly, I was counting on that to keep her from being knocked out."

"And your Torchic?"

"Torchic gradually gets faster the longer he stays in battle," I explain, "So it nullified your Rock Tomb's speed decrease."

Roxanne nods understandingly, "It seems that I still have much more to learn. But, nonetheless, The Pokemon League's rules state that Trainers receive this if they defeat a Gym Leader. Please accept the official Pokemon League Stone Badge." Roxanne hands me the bronze Stone Badge.

I hold it up to the light to see the details as she continues to explain, "The Stone Badge enables Pokemon to use the Hidden Machine move Cut outside of battle."

A staff member comes along and hands us two discs, a HM, and a TM. "What's this one?" I hold up the unknown Technical Machine.

"This is the move Rock Tomb. It inflicts damage by dropping rocks, and it also lowers the target's speed. You can use a TM as many times as you want, so please try it out!"

I put the two discs into a cylindrical TM Case and slipped it back into my bag, "Thanks for everything, Roxanne."

"No, thank _you_ ," Roxanne bows once more, "For your help, and for this wonderful battle. Let me register you on my PokeNav." She pulls out her handheld device and taps it against my Styler, which allowed the two to exchange contact information.

"Feel free to give me a call if you need anything," Roxanne smiles, "I can't wait to see how strong you become." She nods at Arin, "You too, Arin."

Arin nods in return, "Of course, we won't let you down!"

"That's the spirit!" Roxanne chuckles, "I guess you'll be off to Dewford Town next?"

"That's right," I say, "We might stay in Rustboro for a couple more days though."

"Well, when you _do_ get there," she smirks, "Say hi to Brawly for me."

 **End of Chapter 5**

* * *

 **A/N: Hello again! Thanks for reading the latest chapter. Please feel free to leave any comments or criticism in a review, everything is appreciated. I know it's been a while since I last posted and for that I'm genuinely sorry. A lot has come up in the past two weeks and I was too busy to write, but I finally got some time to sit down and churn out a chapter! If you pay close attention to the games, you would've realized that Roxanne's pokemon have slightly different movesets. I tweaked the movesets a bit just to present a bit of a challenge to our protagonist. Like previous chapters have indicated, I don't have a specific upload schedule; so please give this story a follow if you want to read the next chapter the moment it comes out!**

 **Again, thanks for reading and 'till next time!**

 **-AS**


	6. Chapter 6 - Turbulent Tides

The strong sea breeze and the salty smell of the ocean fills my senses as we step out of the ferry terminal. It's been a few days since Rustboro. We made our way back through Petalburg Woods, much faster this time since there were shortcuts we could take.

We had spent the night at Petalburg city and made our way to the beach early in the morning to catch the ferry to Dewford Town.

Arin yawned, "Did we really have to board the earliest ferry?"

"If we don't want to be packed in with all the tourists during the day, yeah," I explained, handing her her ticket.

We turn in our tickets and head up to the front of the boat.

"Don't you just love the ocean?" I say, taking in the seaside breeze.

"Did you do many ocean missions back in Almia?" Arin asks out of curiosity.

"Yeah, we did," I chuckle, "I remember this one mission with Luther, we had to chase down a rouge Sharpedo. We had almost gotten it when Luther—" I was rudely interrupted by the sound of the ferry's horn. The ferry began to pull away from the docks. We watched as the city of Petalburg slowly grew smaller in the distance.

Arin takes a bite out of the sandwich she'd gotten earlier at the Pokemart as she checks her PokeNav, "Good thing we went to the Pokemart earlier. Says here that Dewford doesn't have one."

"But there is a market at Slateport, we'll be heading there next," I explain, "It's also where Steven is."

Arin clutches the incubator in her arms, "Let's hope this little guy hatches before then."

I nod, "I hope to do some training before I challenge the next gym. Torchic here should be leveling up soon."

Torchic chirps as he runs around us. Ralts clutches onto the guide rails as Mudkip wags his tail fin, watching the ocean waves.

"You know," Arin says suddenly, "I'm really glad I went out on this journey."

"How so?" I smirk as I lean against the rail.

"It's been less than two weeks since we started at Littleroot," she explains, unable to wipe the smile from her face, "And I've already seen so much. I never would've seen this back at school."

I chuckle, "There's still much in store. I mean, we've only passed the first gym. Seven more to go and then the league, not to mention everything we'll encounter on the way there."

"Speaking of encountering," Arin points out, "Any new news from Devon about their investigation?"

I shake my head, "I half expect us to run into something before they do." I cross my fingers, this whole Gigaremo situation has been bothering me ever since we ran into it back at Rustboro.

* * *

"Check it out!" Arin runs up to the front of the ship. Here, we can see the vessel splitting the waves as we traveled the calm ocean towards the distant island which housed Dewford Town.

Our pokemon and I caught up to her, passing a few other passengers on the way. There weren't many people on the ferry this morning.

"Look over there," I point. The water was pretty clear here and you could make out the groups of fish pokemon swimming below and along the side the boat.

"Wow," Arin called Mudkip to her, "It's so beautiful out there."

"It really is," I sighed. It was a good change of pace from everything that's been happening recently.

I realized I had spoken too soon when the boat shook and tipped to one side before quickly reorienting itself.

"What the—" I grabbed onto the railing quickly, as did Arin, "What's going on."

A chime of the ferry's PA system alerted us to the announcement, "Please bear with us as we are experiencing some minor turbulence out on the waters today. We recommend that you remain seated until advised…"

I look over at Arin who is skeptical of the announcement. I glance out to the water and saw no large waves, "Doubt."

She nods, "Why do we keep running into trouble?"

"Beats me," I look around at the other passengers. All of them seem unfazed, reading newspapers or conversing with friends.

"Mudkip, go check the other side of the ship," Arin says before peering off the side. Mudkip runs across the deck to the other side before yipping once and running off.

"There's something over there," Arin says and motions for me to follow. We move quickly, but try not to alert or startle the other passengers. We don't want to cause some kind of panic.

I lean over the edge just as a blue object with two red orbs descends back into the water.

"A Tentacruel?" I exclaim.

"What? Where?" Arin looks around frantically.

"It just went back into the water," I explain, "The ship must've startled it. Nothing to worry about." I say this just as the ship rocks once more.

"Never mind, something's up," I sigh, "We need to alert the crew."

* * *

"Woah there," a crew member stops us from entering, "This area is for crew members only. I'm going to have to ask you to go back to your seats."

I pull up my ID on my Styler, "Terence Carter, Pokemon Ranger. I'd like to speak to someone. You seem to have a problem with an angered pokemon."

"The Tentacruel? We noticed," A gruff voice comes from behind the crew member. The captain steps out and introduces himself, "Captain Sylk, at your service. Unfortunately, we don't really know why the thing started to attack us."

The captain takes notice of Arin, "I'm sorry, young lady, you are?"

"Arin, Arin Steele," She nods and shakes his hand, "Nice to meet you."

"And she's your…"

"…Partner?" I say, unsure. We haven't been traveling together for long but I already feel a connection to Arin, "Yeah, partner."

"Well, let me show you how bad the situation actually is." Captain Sylk leads us up to the navigation room where he points out a large sonar display showing multiple large red dots.

"There's more than one?" Arin gasps.

"We've been trying to shake them for a while, actually," says one of the crew members, "But they keep getting more agitated. We don't know why."

Arin shoots me a look. _More trouble_ , her expression said.

"Really hope this isn't those stolen Miniremos," I say under my breath. I turn to the captain, "Let us take a look, do you have any surveillance equipment that might show us the bottom of the ship?"

"We have this one camera," one of the crew members turns a monitor towards us. It showed multiple water type pokemon tailing the ferry, all in some agitated state. "We attracted them almost instantly after the ferry left the port."

I squinted to look at the low-quality video feed, no signs of any attached devices on the agitated Pokemon. I turn to Arin, "If it is the Miniremos, they angered pokemon wouldn't follow the ship like this. They would most likely cause havoc at the dock."

"Maybe it's something on the ship?" Arin offers, I hadn't thought of that.

"A lure," I state, "That also seems to anger them." I turn back to Captain Sylk, "Do you think we can look around the ship? Maybe find something that isn't supposed to be here."

The Captain gestures, "Go right on ahead, anything that might keep the passengers of this ferry safe."

"Perfect," I bow, "We won't let you down."

* * *

"Anything?" Arin asks when we meet up again after roaming around below deck.

I shake my head, "Nothing. I've looked in pretty much every unlocked room and there's nothing suspicious."

"We should go back and tell the captain," Arin replies, "Maybe the pokemon have left."

The ferry shakes once more, "Probably not." I say, "How about we go one more time. I'm pretty sure there are a few doors tha—"

"Excuse me," we let a crew member squeeze through. We were standing in a pretty cramped hallway.

"Sorry about that," I apologized instinctively.

Once the crew member had turned the corner, Arin immediately steps closer, "Was… that a crew member?"

"Yeah, why?" I didn't see the problem.

"All the other crew members had buzz cuts," she gestures to her head, "Doesn't it seem weird that he had—"

"A full head of hair?" I finished her sentence, "Kinda. Let's take a look…"

We peek around the corner to see the suspicious crew member lock a door behind him and quickly walk away. We advance towards the door, _Engine Room_.

"We didn't check in here," Arin points out.

"Yeah, because it was locked," I put my hand on the door and peak back to see if the crew member had left completely, "Ralts, a little help." The psychic pokemon burst forth from her Pokeball.

"You think you can help with a bit of breaking and entering?" I ask, trying to make what we were doing not sound illegal.

The small pokemon cries out and holds her hands up, using her psychic abilities to try and unlock the door. I hear the creaking of gears and the lock of the door clicking.

With one more loud click, the door swings open, "Perfect, thanks for the help."

"Ralts!" The pokemon chirps before returning to her Pokeball.

"Now, let's take a look at—" I'm cut off by the immediate realization that there're three Gigaremo units sitting right next to the engine.

"Holy what?" Arin peers into the room, "Are those the Giga-what-mos you were talking about."

"How in Arceus's name…" I trailed off. These weren't reverse engineered, they came straight from Dim Sun's schematics, improved in fact.

"How do we stop them?" Arin inquires.

I shake my head, "They're almost indestructible, which made dealing with them a pain. Which is why I hoped never to see them again."

"We have to deal with the agitated pokemon directly," I continue, "And let the captain know that they've got someone impersonating a crew member."

* * *

We burst back into the deck, "Well, find anything?" Captain Sylk asks.

"There's someone here impersonating a crew member," Arin explains, "And there are three devices down in the engine room causing the agitated pokemon to act in such a way."

"How do we stop them?"

"I'll deal with the pokemon," I activate my styler, "We need to get the passengers to the inside, the angered pokemon might lash out and we don't want any of them getting hurt."

"We'll help out in any way we can."

"Great," I give them a thumbs up, "Follow me."

Arin and I lead the group towards the front of the ferry where we first saw the Tentacruel.

"Pardon the inconvenience," The PA system goes off again, "We ask that all passengers sitting outside move indoors. We are experiencing some turbulence and expect large waves. Again, please move to the indoor cabin…"

"There!" One of the crew members points. The images of the pokemon just beneath the surface could be seen from up here.

"Capture on!" I launch my capture disc into the water. From sight alone, I try to circle around the pokemon, but to no avail. It seems to have angered it even more.

I retract the disc just as the ferry rocks once more. One of the Tentacruel's tentacles wraps around the railing, bringing the pokemon to eye level.

"Torchic, Pokeassist," I call out. A red-hot capture disc shoots out once more and circles the Tentacruel. It cries out but shakes the ferry once more.

"Why are we stopping?" Arin lets out Mudkip. As if right on cue, another agitated pokemon rises from the water. A Gyarados.

"Arin, I'm leaving Ralts to you," I let Ralts out.

Arin nods understandingly, "Ralts, Confusion! Mudkip, Mud Shot!"

"Torchic, Ember!" I command as I dodge a water attack. I flick my capture disc around the two pokemon, notably slowing the two due to the heat of the pokeassist.

It was the Tentacruel's turn to attack, hitting us with a Supersonic attack, causing us all to cover our ears. "Torchic! Can you still go?" The fire starter circles dizzily but chirps positively, "Hit 'em with another ember!"

Torchic jumps back up, running quickly and dodging another one of Gyarados's water attacks. It gets up close before unleashing another fire attack and scratching at the scaled water pokemon.

Mudkip also rushes forward, tackling the Tentacruel. Ralts quickly teleports in, grabbing onto Mudkip, and teleporting back to a safe distance.

"We're not doing any damage!" Arin calls out from behind me, "Ralts, Confusion to counter Tentacruel's Supersonic!"

I direct the capture disc around the two attacking pokemon once more, "Torchic, let's go again!" Torchic quickly hops back on its feet and charges at the two. Everything seemed dire.

Just as I was about to lose hope, a bright light engulfs Torchic as it charges forward. "No way," I smirk.

From the other side of the flash of light emerges a bipedal fire type. It jumps up, much higher this time, and double kicks the two controlled pokemon, sending them reeling.

"Combusken!" I announce, "Hit 'em with another Double Kick!"

Arin cheers from behind, "Ralts, Mudkip, support Combusken from behind!" I throw my capture line out once more. Torchic's sudden evolution has turned the tide on this battle.

Combusken jumps around between the two water types, stomping on the Tentacruel just as Ralts hits it with Disarming Voice. My capture disc circles around it one last time before it retreats back into the waters.

"One more!" Arin calls out, "Mukip, tackle again!"

"Combusken, Peck and Double Kick, let's go!" I switch over to Ralts' poke assist, using her psychic power to restrain the Atrocious Pokemon.

The impact throws the Gyarados off the ferry and back into the water. I pump my fist in the air and laugh, "We did it!" Combusken lands next to us, Ralts and Mudkip running around its feet.

* * *

Arin rushes forward and hugs me, "That was amazing! What're the chances that Torchic would evolve mid-battle?!"

"I know right?!" I couldn't stop smiling, "Nice job everyone!"

"Are the problem pokemon dealt with?" Captain Sylk steps out and confronts the two of us.

"Not to worry, Captain," I salute, still high off the adrenaline, "The two aggravated pokemon have been dealt with—-"

"Two?" The captain's brow furrows, "Weren't there three?"

"Three?" I look over at Arin, whose eyes are wide in panic, " _Three?!_ "

Suddenly, the ferry rocks again, much more this time.

"Go!" I call out, rushing towards the railing of the ferry, unable to see any present threats.

"I don't see anything," Arin notes.

"Neither do I," I reply, "Just a bunch of schools of fish…"

"Wait, schools?" Arin frowns, "There's a.. but that's impossible."

"There's a what?" I ask quickly.

"There's a pokemon, native to the Alola region," She explains, "Wishiwashi. By itself it's harmless, but in schools, it can do a significant amount of—" she's interrupted by another strike to the hull,"—damage."

"There it is!" Arin points. Sure enough, the schools of fish bunched together to form a much larger fish; Wishiwashi, school form.

"How do we even begin to defend against something like that?" I tap my Styler to see if I can find any information on the Small Fry pokemon, "I can try capturing the core pokemon; if we calm that one it might disperse the school."

"Pelipper," Arin looks up.

"Yes, I see the Pelipper," I note the group of flying pokemon.

"No, I mean use the Pelipper," She corrects me as the boat rocks once more, "Pelipper are natural predators of Wishiwashi, I remember from my studies. We could use the Pelipper to disperse part of the school. If the core Wishiwashi is still under the influence of the Gigameno-whatever it should remain and make it easier to capture."

"Arin," I start, pointing my capture styler at in the air, "You are a genius." I fire the disc up, circling around the group of Pelipper.

"Pelipper!" I call, gripping the railing as the rampaging pokemon rams the ferry once more, "Assist us!" The group of Pelipper swoop down and fly above the water.

From the deck, we can see the number of fish pokemon begin to dwindle. First, the Wishiwashi on the edges of the large school begin to swim away. "It's working!"

"Ralts, Confusion!" I command, "Let's see if this singles anyone out."

The feeling pokemon raises her hands and delivers the psychic attack. For a moment, we see a small group in the center disperse before reforming into a school.

"There," I charge and fire my capture disc. The disc plunges into the water and loops around the group of fish. A ping of my styler tells me that the aggravated Wishiwashi has been captured. "Yes!" An image appears on the display, a new addition to the index.

I let out a sigh of relief, as does Arin, "Is it finally over?" Arin sighs, slumping down to the floor.

I, too, take a seat, "I certainly hope so, I'm beat. Not the best way to start the day, huh?"

"Nope," she laughs, "I'm starting to regret coming on an adventure with you, we keep running into trouble."

We laugh as Dewford Town draws closer in the distance.

* * *

We both bow our heads as the passengers exit the ferry, "We sincerely apologize for the rough passage to Dewford Town."

"Are you serious?" Captain Sylk approaches us, "You both saved everyone on this boat! You shouldn't be apologizing."

I look up to see the crew members lugging the three Gigaremos off the ferry, "What're you doing with those?"

"We've already reported them to the police," the captain explains, "We received a warning about such devices early this morning. I didn't think we'd encounter one so soon, much less on my own boat!"

"I didn't think we'd see more of these either," I sighed.

"You've seen these before?"

" _Way_ too often," I laugh nervously, "But it's our job, so it's no big deal."

"Well, I have to thank you again for all the help," Captain Sylk holds two harness looking devices before him, "I want you to have these, as a token of our thanks."

"These are…" I hesitate to take the devices, "These are Exp. Shares. They're kind of rare—"

"And we have no use for them," the captain explains, "They've been in our lost and found for a while now, might as well give them away."

We accept the generous gifts from the captain the crew, "Thank you, so much."

"No," the captain shakes his head, "Thank _you_."

We wave goodbye to the ferry as it loads another group of passengers and heads towards the next town of Slateport.

After a few seconds of silence, Arin finally speaks, "What a way to start the morning."

"Certain was," I stretch my arms above my head, "I could really use a rest."

"No harm in that," Arin replies as we walk along the sandy beach, heading for the Pokemon Station, "We got that training in _and_ got to help some people on the way."

I want to bring up the suspicious crew member but I don't. _Some other time_.

"You did good back there," I compliment Arin, "That info about Wishiwashi really saved us."

"Ah, it was no big deal," Arin couldn't help but smile, "It's just something we learned at school. You know we had to take an _entire_ semester of Pokemon biology. It was all just memorization, by the end, I swear I was…"

And with that, we returned to normality and our adventure would continue. Onwards to the second gym!

 **End of Chapter 6**

* * *

 **A/N: Hello! Thanks for reading this chapter! As you can see, I'm not dead! College has hit me like a truck and I found little to no motivation to write. And because of that, this chapter may have seemed a bit slow or repetitive with the battle on the ferry. Battle scenes are still not my forte, which isn't a good sign when Pokemon centers almost primarily on the battles. Please feel free to leave a review. Any comment, criticism or otherwise, is welcome! Maybe help me improve on said battle scenes. As you can tell by the** ** _tremendous_** **break I took, I don't have a set upload schedule. So if you want to read the next chapter as soon as it drops, please consider giving me a follow!**

 **Again, thanks for reading and 'till next time!**

 **-AS**


	7. Chapter 7 - Caving Conundrum

"We probably should've gotten Flash before we went down this far," Arin follows me closely as we squint through the dark. We've been walking for a while now, I hold a torch made by the flame Combusken made.

"Didn't expect Granite Cave to be this dark," I pan the torch around, "It shouldn't be too far in now."

"Why'd we even take on this quest in the first place?" Arin asks, trying to hide the nervousness in her voice, "I'm sure you could find Big Pearls on the shore. Why'd we have to come down here to find them?"

"I'm sure they had a reason," I activate my stylus and quickly capture a group of nearby Zubat, "Help us find the inner chambers."

The Bat pokemon turned around and used their echolocation to scan our surroundings.

They quickly fly off in one direction, "Follow me," I say, heading in the direction that the Zubat flew off in.

Arin clutches her incubator in her arms. Other than the light of the torch, the small indicator light was the only other source of light in the cave. "Why can't we use our flashlights?"

"Flashlights are for emergencies," I explain, squinting to look along the path, "We're doing just fine without them right now."

I hear Arin grumble to herself, I feel kinda bad. It's my fault that we're down here, and it's clear she doesn't like the situation.

"Hey Terence," She calls out from behind.

"What's up?"

"Hear that?" Arin asks. We stop in our tracks to listen for a few seconds.

"Hear what?"

"There's, like, a rumbling sound," Arin points out. Sure enough, there was. It was faint and constant, that's why I paid it no mind, "What is that?"

"No clue…" I look around. It was certainly concerning. Any kind of rumbling this deep in a cave is probably a bad sign.

"We can leave—"

"No," Arin uncharacteristically stops me, "We're already here. Just go grab the pearls and we'll be out of here. In and out, just like that."

"You sure?" I ask, concerned. She nods, "Alright. Stay here, I'll be right back."

I leave Combusken with Arin and run off, following the wall; the chamber shouldn't be that far now. The rumbling was getting louder.

* * *

I plop down, leaning against the cave walls. Combusken lights another torch and sets it down in the middle of the path, lighting up the corridor.

"Get back soon," I sigh to myself. I don't know why I agreed to come down here, I was never really fond of the dark. _Stupid Terence_.

 _I could've stayed up at the surface when he offered to go by himself. But then I'd be lonely._ I realize that even now I'm pretty lonely.

"Please hatch soon, little guy," I pat the top of the incubator. Mudkip sits next to me, staring into the fire, while Combusken stands on guard, listening for any potential threats.

I'm so paranoid about the situation that that rumbling sound that I had mentioned before sounds louder in my head.

Mudkip pokes his head up, also listening alongside Combusken.

I bury my face in my hands, _Why am I such a coward_.

Mudkip pushes against my led, trying to get my attention.

"What's up, Mudkip?" I try to push away my self-loathing for just a second.

"Ken!" Combusken also gets my attention and points down the narrow cave. It wasn't my imagination, that rumbling _was_ getting louder.

"Terence!" I bolt up, running after the ranger, "Terence, the cave!"

* * *

"It's here!" I exclaim to no one in particular. I had reached what was probably the deepest chamber this cave had. There was a small pool here, and low and behold, what do I find?

"I hope these were what the merchant was looking for," I pick up a few Big Pearls and drop them into a pouch, "He said he'd pay a hefty price for them too."

I stand up and almost lose my footing; that rumbling Arin had mentioned was definitely getting louder, or _closer_.

"I should get back quickly," I slip the pouch into my bag and sling it back over my shoulder. Another shake of the ground, this time much closer.

"Why is it that we _always_ run into trouble," I release Ralts from her pokeball and activate my styler. A roar came from somewhere in the cave.

"A Golem?" I recognize the cry of the Rock type pokemon. From the sound, it isn't near, but it's angry at something. A boom comes from that part of the cave and the flooring shakes again, _I hope Arin is okay_.

Just as I take my mind off the current situation, something falls from the cave ceiling. I barely dodge it in time, having it scrape against my forearm. "What the…"

I hadn't realized it, but the stalactites hanging from the ceiling were also shaking because of the Golem's rampage. My eyes widened as another fell from the ceiling and I had to dodge.

This whole room was unstable, no wonder no one wanted to come down here, "Ralts! Get us out of here!"

"Ralts!" The Feeling pokemon cries before raising her arms in the air, ready to teleport us out of the chamber. I grab hold of the small pokemon and dodge to avoid another falling projectile.

Just as we're about to warp out, I hear another voice, "Terence, the cave!"

"Arin!?" I start to panic. And just as I catch a glimpse of her, everything goes black.

* * *

"Terence, the cave!" I call again as I reach the inner chamber of the cave. I was too late, everything had already begun to collapse.

"Arin?!" I hear him call out. I see him, far inside.

I smile, _he's fine_. But that excitement is quickly replaced by fear when I see his reaction and subsequent disappearance. I quickly realize the situation I'm in and rush back the way I came.

I didn't stop running until the rumbling stopped. Both Combusken and Mudkip were tailing me as I sprinted through the cave, clutching onto the incubator. I stopped and sat down, catching my breath.

 _He told me to stay put_ , I scolded myself, _should've known that he was smart enough to teleport out when he knew there was trouble._

I groan and slam my fist against the ground. "Oww," I rub my hand, that was different in my head.

I sigh, it's only now occurred to me that I don't know how to get out of this cave. I could start walking and luckily find my way out _or_ I could wait for someone to come find me.

I pan the torch around, looking for any discernible signs on the walls of the cave. None.

I stand up, hugging the incubator, "Might as well take a look around, get a bearing of my surroundings."

* * *

The bright light was blinding and it took a few seconds for my eyes to readjust.

"Where…" I rub my eyes. I felt a soft sandy path under my feet. I was in front of the Pokemon Center.

"What," everything was coming back to me, "Arin!" I quickly rush back to the entrance to Granite Cave. I'm sprinting through the first floor of the cave, I remember there was a part where we needed to descend into a lower part of the cave by a ladder.

I reached the cliff where we descended deeper and pull out my flashlight. I'm so thankful that we saved these; who knows how long they'd last for.

I clip the flashlight to my belt, facing it forward as I climbed down. I hope she didn't get caught in the avalanche of rocks. Ralts sat atop my shoulder as I climbed down.

"Ralts, do you sense Arin anywhere?" I ask, finally reaching the bottom and panning the light around to find the path that we had taken. The small pokemon chirps but doesn't seem successful.

"Alright, let's go then," I activate my Styler and try to retrace my steps.

* * *

"Hello?" I call out, "Anyone there?" I shine my flashlight down the cave towards the inner chamber. The torch had run out and we couldn't find any more firewood to light another one. Blaziken and Mudkip follow close behind, ready to attack at a moments notice.

"Hell—Ah!" I scream as a swarm of Zubats fly past me and gave me quite the scare. "Ugh, not again…"

Mudkip nudges me from where he stands. I turn to look at the small water type, only to look up to notice something in the distance.

"No, no, no, no, no," I run over and put my hand up against the rubble. There was a cave-in, and the exit had been blocked by boulders.

I groan yet again and slump to the floor. It's probably only been thirty minutes, but it feels like it's been hours.

I turn off the flashlight to conserve battery power. The darkness of the cave now consuming everything. All except the small indicator light coming from the incubator.

I remember reading in class that pokemon inside eggs can sense the aura of its surroundings and would only hatch under certain conditions. Too much stress and they would refuse to hatch.

And I'm _really_ stressed right now.

What if they can't find us? What if we don't make it out of this cave? What if _Terence_ didn't actually make it out of the cave? What if…

I shake my head, I can't be thinking like this. I'm only making matters worse by thinking negatively.

I put my hand on top of the incubator, "You think so too, right little guy?" The egg, however, remains unmoving.

"Good talk," I pat the device and dust myself off, rolling up my sleeves. "Assess the situation," I say to myself.

* * *

"Arin!" The cave echoes back as I shout her name into the depths. Nothing so far, I swear we went down this path last time. The sudden thought of a cave-in occurs to me and I start to move faster.

"Geodude, Abra," I call out to the captured friend pokemon, "Do some digging." They both head out in their respective directions; heading down another path and teleporting away.

I recognize a pokemon's screech deeper into the cave and I quickly run towards it, hoping it would help us with the search for my partner.

"Capture assist! Ralts!" I turn the corner to confirm my hunch, a Golbat. The bat pokemon is quick to befriend, especially it being weak to psychic attacks. Golbat, unlike Zubat, have much more accurate echolocation, as well as the ability to see in the dark. "Help us out."

The bat pokemon obliges and follows us deeper into the cave, checking the area around us for any sign of our missing friend.

* * *

I try prying one of the rocks out of the collapsed pile, but none of them seem to be budging. I've been working at this for a while now, I've got some of them out but they've been getting increasingly harder.

"Combusken, Double Kick!" I command the fire type. Combusken leaps at the rocks, striking it twice. The wall of rocks shakes and a few of the larger boulders move out of place, only to reveal more rocks.

"At least we're making progress," I wipe sweat from my brow. Mudkip sits by the incubator, keeping a watchful eye.

"I really hope you're some kind of steel type, that'd be useful," I say to the egg, not like it would respond, "That'd be _real_ fitting," I continue to work on dismantling the rock wall, "Like a Mawile, or a Beldum. That'd be cool."

"Kip!" Mudkip yips from his position next to the incubator.

"Or maybe it's one of those really rare legendary eggs," I dig into the wall, "One from a different region, maybe."

Mudkip yips once more and runs over to tug on my leg.

"One… second!" I pull with all my might as another rock comes loose, a few rocks dislodging from the wall. "There we go! Combusken, hit it with another Double Kick!"

Another strike to the wall knocks most of the rocks out of place. I can see the opening on the other side if I shine my flashlight through, we've almost made it.

I can't contain my excitement and I reach out to grab the wall of rocks once more. But before I can do anything another rumble shakes the cave and I lose my balance. However, I'm not the only one. Loose rocks from above also begin to fall.

I watch as, one by one, debris falls from the ceiling, getting progressively larger. I try scrambling out the way, but the slippery cave floor prevents me from doing so. I hold up my arms to shield myself from the falling rock.

I'm surprised when a small pokemon leaps in front of me, smashing the large rock with it's head. It's dark, so it takes a second for me to register anything at all.

I glance back to where Mudkip was sitting before, only to find him still sitting there next to the incubator…

It's empty.

"But that means…" I quickly grab my dropped flashlight and light up the cave. At my feet stands a silver pokemon with a shield for a face and bright blue eyes. It stood no more than half a meter tall. I _definitely_ should've expected this.

"Aron," I say to the Iron Armorpokemon, and laugh, "Of course! Why didn't I think of it sooner?!"

* * *

"Air Cutter! Confusion!" I command Ralts and the befriended Golbat. The attacks hit a pile of rocks blocking another path, I don't remember going down here though.

"Where are you, Arin?" I mutter under my breath.

There's another rumble of the cave. I would usually pay them no mind, but this one was accompanied by a familiar shout.

"Golbat, which way?" The bat pokemon quickly leads me down through the cave. We're getting close.

"Arin!" I call out, hoping my partner can hear me.

"Terence?" It's faint, but I hear the reply, "We're over here!"

Golbat quickly leads me to another cave path blocked by a rock slide. There's a small gap in the middle where I can see the light of a flashlight from the other side.

I'm about to call my pokemon to strike the wall when I hear Arin, "Stand back!" I do just that.

"Aron, Headbutt!" I hear Arin command. _Aron?_

I realize I'm not standing far enough away when the steel type pokemon bursts through the rock wall, sending debris flying everywhere. Thankfully none were big enough to actually hurt me.

"Terence!" Arin rushes through the now open cave corridor and hugs me, "Oh my Arceus it felt like forever down here."

"Sorry for not coming sooner," I apologize as she lets go of me, "We teleported farther than I expected." I suddenly remember what I had instructed her to do. "Didn't I tell you to stay put?"

Arin scratches the back of her head and laughs nervously, "Sorry about that, causing more trouble than was needed."

"You look exhausted," I hold her shoulders. She had both her sleeves rolled up; sweat laced her brow and her hands were dirty and callused.

"Don't worry about me," Arin smiles widely, "You look pretty beat up yourself. _And_ you're bleeding." I hadn't realized it, but that falling stalactite that scrapped my arm had drawn blood.

"Don't worry about me," I parrot, "We'd better get out of here before any more cave-ins occur." Arin nods in agreement before I call Ralts over to teleport us out.

* * *

"That was certainly something," I say as we walk out of the Pokecenter. A new pokeball hangs from my waist, Aron had officially joined the team. My two pokemon followed me out of the center, Mudkip walking alongside Aron.

"Indeed," Terence steps out after me, his right arm bandaged up, "Good to see that egg finally hatched. Aron'll make a great addition to your team."

"Speaking of additions to the team," I turn in place to face him, "You got one too, didn't you?"

Terence chuckled, three pokeballs now hung from his belt, "I did." He releases his pokemon and they all stand before us. Combusken, Ralts, and…

"Golbat," He announces, "And Aron," he looks at my new pokemon, "Welcome to the team!"

"Welcome!" I smile, repeating the sentiment, "This calls for a celebration!"

"Of course," Terence says with a wide smile, "Works out since that merchant really upped his buying price for those Big Pearls when he heard of all the trouble they caused us."

"Does that mean you'll be treating us tonight?" I looked on, batting my eyelashes.

He chuckles, "Only for today."

"Yes!" I pump my fist in the air, my pokemon sharing my excitement, "Time to find the most expensive restaurant in Dewford!"

 **End of Chapter 7**

* * *

 **A/N: Hello! Thanks for reading the latest chapter! College is still a pain but I'm working with it! I decided to change up the style a bit and include some of Arin's perspective; I hope it wasn't too confusing to follow. Please let me know what you thought of the chapter; whether that be bad or good, both are welcome! It really helps with the writing process and keeps the ideas flowing. Speaking of keeping the ideas flowing, I was thinking of changing up the style of the story. Instead of following the pair through every gym and every route, I'd choose certain parts that are more important and omit parts that are repetitive. This might mean skipping over certain routes or gyms as they might seem a bit monotonous. This'll let me flesh out my characters and move the story along instead of having filler chapters where they deal with yet another difficult pokemon battle. I try to stick to a schedule, but with all college is throwing at me it'll be a bit difficult, so follow the story if you've enjoyed.**

 **I know this has been a long A/N, but I want to say thanks again for reading and 'till next time!**

 **-AS**


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